MGT502 Business Communication: Unilever Digital Resource Analysis

This report provides a digital resource analysis of Unilever's business communication strategies, emphasizing the importance of digital communication tools in modern business. It explores how Unilever utilizes platforms like Chatter, digital advertising, mobile communication, blogs, and web-based systems to enhance internal and external communication. The report highlights the benefits of digital resources in fostering employee motivation, brand awareness, and stakeholder engagement. It concludes that Unilever effectively leverages digital platforms for advertising, internal collaboration, and stakeholder communication, recommending a balanced approach between traditional and modern communication methods. Desklib provides access to similar solved assignments for students.

Running head: BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
Business Research
Digital Resource Analysis: Report

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Executive Summary
Business communication is the essence of any organisation which is used to exchange the
information and ideas with the internal as well as external stakeholders. This report covers the
digital resource analysis of the Unilever which is the leading FMCG brand. The proposal and report
are given on the importance of social media and how it boosts up the morale of the employees.
The report covers the importance of business communication and what all digital communication
tools are used by the company in order to maintain smooth communication with its stakeholders. It
concludes that the company is maintaining smooth communication and also fostering its growth. It is
recommended to the company that it should adopt and implement a proper mixture of traditional
and modern tools of communication for maintaining a balanced connection with the stakeholders.

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Table of Contents
Executive Summary...............................................................................................................................1
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................3
Importance of Digital communication...................................................................................................4
How Unilever uses Digital sources?.......................................................................................................6
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................8
Recommendations.................................................................................................................................8
References.............................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
Business communication refers to the exchange of ideas and information between two or
more parties where the business is involved. It can be done through meetings, notices,
advertising, personal selling, video conferencing, messages and more. Business
communication is comparatively formal than the informal communication. It contains a
meaningful message which has a purpose. The companies are required to communicate to
their stakeholders for various reasons. They need to communicate to their employees for
sharing company goals with them, with customers to make them aware about the offerings
of the business, with shareholders to share the growth and profits of the business, with
government to comply with the rules and regulations and with others for some or the other
purpose. Clear communication assist organisations to have error free operations and
provide clear guidance to the business (Khan & Khan, 2012).
Background
This assignment is based on the proposal made on the topic ‘Digital Resource analyses. The
digital communication of the company Unilever has been discussed in the proposal. Unilever
is the leading FMCG Company across the world. The assignment covers the importance of
digital sources for communication and the tools which are used by Unilever for running its
business. Digital resources are the databases, readings, papers, reports and scripts which
are available in a digital form i.e. in electronic format. The task will showcase the digital
technology which is been used by the company for improving the morale of the employees
of Unilever. It will analyse that how social communication boost their morale and motivates
them to work with greater productivity

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Importance of Digital communication
Digital communication is rapidly taking over the traditional communication channels for
numerous reasons. Digital resources are now an inseparable part of the business world
because it is used in one or the other activity in the business. The power of Internet is huge.
It connects people and businesses sitting at different corners of the world. Communication
has progressed a lot over the years. Digital communication evolved rapidly and also
adopted in the commercial environment by using wireless networks and storage media. The
companies nowadays uses digital sources to communicate and market its brand and
develop brand awareness which is the foremost stage of the marketing communication
(Georgakopoulou & Spilioti, 2015).
As per Patrutiu-Baltes (2016), Internet offers many opportunities for the companies
which helps in minimising the cost of the business and also provides easy access to the
business in the market. The online customer is always well informed and in lesser time. The
online companies nowadays are the top most companies of the world where they provide
an option to the customers to shop anywhere, anytime and can find anything at a one single
platform. As per the marketing Guru, Philip Kotler, marketing is all about how a relationship
is maintained by the business with its customers. There are many methods through which
the companies can communicate through digital sources.
As per the Nielsen report in 2013, 59% people accepted that they became active
buyers after they searched about the products and brand on internet and social media. It
adds value to the services and creates resources for the customers. The digital
communication strategies are adopted by the businesses which has changed the entire
game. The organisations are now able to manage the consequences, implement the
changes and capitalize the opportunities (Dhawan, Goodman, Harris & Mitchell, 2010). The
organisations who swiftly response to their customers are the ones who earns and are
benefitted more. They manage their brand and builds reputation in the market. The shift to
the digital communication has changed the reactions of people and developed their interest
to communicate. It enhanced the engagement and participation of the business
stakeholders with the business. People are now able to listen, speak, share and discuss at a
platform which involves many users at a time (Lapidoth, 2017).

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The companies should invest in digital communication to engage the communities
with the business. The masses are now shifted to online platform so it is easier for the
businesses to manage online crowd rather than managing it offline. The platform like
YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and more have made it super swift for people to connect
with each other and with business. They can collaborate and engage with the business. For
e.g. there are millions of users of Facebook and sharing or connecting there opens up
multiple opportunities for people (Ruesch, Bateson, Pinsker & Combs, 2017).
Looking from an internal perspective, digital communication have also benefitted the
organisation by engaging the employees with each other. But one can’t ignore the
supremacy of the face to face communication which has the strongest effect on anyone. The
digital communication is effective but it also possess challenges for the businesses. Digital
tools might lose importance when there is no connectivity. Also, there is a lack of privacy
which is a prime issue. But digital communication tools are cheap and they also helps in
building the overall communication of business. Digital tools have to be implemented and
used as per the needs of the organisation or people. The usage of these tools decides the
benefit it provides to the business (Tagg, 2015).
Nowadays, the companies aims to use its resources in the best way possible so as to
deliver value to its stakeholders and to earn profit. Digital communication helps business in
ensuring the motivation of its employees, brand awareness among customers, good brand
image in the society and good returns to the shareholders. Unilever uses digital
communication in order to fasten up its communication processes and to observe the
changes of preferences and tastes of people. Like this, they are able to analyse the changing
needs of the people and deliver what is expected out of them (White, 2012). This is how
digital communication benefits business in every sense.

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How Unilever uses Digital sources?
Unilever is a global organisation which needs to be updated in order to remain competitive
across the globe. The company uses digital sources and tools to share the ideas with the
employees and for sharing the data so that they can provide their own insights on the data.
This has motivated and encouraged employees of the company to take part in the activities
of the organisation with full interest. This creates a zeal in them to work and boost their
productivity (Unilever, 2018).
Social communication provides a boost to the workers to maintain good
relationships within the working environment and to think and brainstorm which is a source
of innovation for the company. It helps Unilever to take rapid and swift decisions which also
helps in better operations and productivity. Unilever uses various digital sources to
facilitate communication in the organisation and externally (Çizmeci & Ercan, 2015).
Social communication tools used in the company- Chatter
Unilever has a social collaboration tool with the help of which the leaders of the
company share their insights for the future strategy of the company. This is known as
Chatter. It brings different employees from different locations face to face and helps in
forming transparent plans which are easy to implement and provides better results. The
company leads chat strategy with the employees. Chatter is a social collaboration tool
which helped 16000 line managers of Unilever to chat face to face at a single platform
during a Change Leaders Conference of the company. It also helped in keeping the post
conference records and measure the results (Unilever, 2018).
Digital Advertising
As per the report of O’Reilly (2016), almost quarter of the total budget of Unilever for
advertising is now spent on digital advertising. Unilever, being the second biggest spender
on advertising in the world spent $8.3 billion on advertising in 2014.The platforms like
Google, Facebook and Twitter helps company to connect with the masses which provides
real value to the company. As per the chief marketing head of Unilever, the digital
advertising is at its early stages and still needs time to develop and reach to a stage where
traditional marketing tools are.

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The company maximises the returns by digital sources. The company is shaping its
digital sources for gaining competitive advantage. Unilever believes in keeping sustainability
in its growth. It works for today and better tomorrow. The campaigns on Instagram and
Facebook by the company shows that it is shaping the digital industry for gaining
competitive advantage. It is also using platforms like Snap chat and Pinterest so that it can
drive innovation. The company is also pioneering with the start-ups which creates more
effective advertising for the company (Dhawan, et. al., 2010).
With the help of Digital advertising, the company can use the customer search
queries and predict trends. It can match the customer needs with the purchase
opportunity.
Mobile communication
Mobile is a great way of personalizing the data and content. It identifies the audiences and
micro targets them. For e.g. the applications like Whatsapp is one of the most used
applications. It is also a kind of informal tool where the employees can communicate with
each other. At Unilever, employees communicates through Whatsapp groups because it is
one of the easiest and swift way of communicating. It promotes the unity and culture at the
workplace and brings people and their ideas together. The employees shares files and
documents and also shares important or instant information which helps in taking rapid
decisions (Hobbs, 2010).
Blogs
The company uses Blogs for creating an understanding among its stakeholders. Unilever
creates blogs which is easily accessed by the employees and it fosters open discussion
among the employees. It also promotes collaboration and creates a transparent
environment where everyone is free to share his/ her ideas irrespective of the country, time
zone, language or departments. Everyone gets a platform where they can share their views
(Ali & Katz, 2010).
Web
The company uses a web based system which brings several suppliers and customers of the
company on a platform. It is an interface which makes the dealing more effective with the
partners of the company. Here, Unilever opened two way channel so that the messages can
be understood better (Weber & Monge, 2011).

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Conclusion
It can be concluded that Digital resources are way more helpful in the present age of
globalisation and multinational ventures. These resources does not only connect the
internal stakeholders but also helps in bringing the external stakeholders together. The
company Unilever is successfully using the digital platforms for various reasons. One of
them is advertising and marketing. It has been analysed that the company is spending a
huge amount of money in adverting digitally by using the platforms like Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram, Snap chat and more. The company is also very much into the digital
communication tools like Blogs and web where it creates a platform for bringing people
from various geographic locations and connects them. The company has a chat tool named
as Chatter which is used when it has to connect the officials of the company of different
locations and have to take important decisions and share important information. The
assignment discusses about the importance of digital tools and communication in the
present era and also concludes that it is not an option but mandatory to compete the high
level competition in the market.
Recommendations
It can be recommended to the company that no doubt Digital communication has reached a
very important position and is very much required in the present business environment,
Traditional marketing and the tools have their own importance. The company should use a
wise combination of both in order to have successful communication strategy. The
company is also recommended to make effective use of social media because it is one of the
most important source of digital information and tool for communication.

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References
Ali, R., & Katz, I. R. (2010). Information and Communication Technology Literacy: What do
businesses expect and what do business schools teach?. ETS Research Report
Series, 2010(2), i-20.
Çizmeci, F., & Ercan, T. (2015). The Effect of Digital Marketing Communication Tools in the
Creation Brand Awareness by Housing Companies. Megaron. 10(2). 149-161.
Dhawan, E., Goodman, E., Harris, S., & Mitchell, C. (2010). Unilever and its supply chain:
Embracing radical transparency to implement sustainability. Retrieved from
http://actionlearning.mit.edu/files/slab_files/Projects/2010/Report,%20Unilever.pdf
Georgakopoulou, A., & Spilioti, T. (Eds.). (2015). The Routledge handbook of language and
digital communication. Routledge. United Kingdom.
Hobbs, R. (2010). Digital and Media Literacy: A Plan of Action. A White Paper on the Digital
and Media Literacy Recommendations of the Knight Commission on the Information
Needs of Communities in a Democracy. Aspen Institute. 1 Dupont Circle NW Suite
700, Washington, DC 20036.
Khan, F., & Khan, M. E. (2012). Achieving success through effective business
communication. Information and Knowledge Managment, 2(2), 46-50.
Lapidoth, A. (2017). A foundation in digital communication. Cambridge University Press.
Lipiäinen, H. (2014). Digitization of the Communication and its Implications for
Marketing. Jyväskylä studies in business and economics, (152).
O’Reilly, L (2016, January 28). Almost a quarter of Unilever's $8 billion ad budget is now
spent on digital. Business Insider, Retrieved from
https://www.businessinsider.com.au/unilever-digital-advertising-budget-up-to-24-
2016-1.
Patrutiu-Baltes, L. (2016). Inbound Marketing-the most important digital marketing
strategy. Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Brasov. Economic Sciences. Series
V, 9(2), 61.
Ruesch, J., Bateson, G., Pinsker, E. C., & Combs, G. (2017). Communication: The social matrix
of psychiatry. Routledge. United Kingdom.

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Tagg, C. (2015). Exploring digital communication: Language in action. Routledge. United
Kingdom.
Unilever (2018). Advertising & marketing. Retrieved from
https://www.unilever.com/sustainable-living/what-matters-to-you/advertising-and-
marketing.html.
Weber, M. S., & Monge, P. (2011). The flow of digital news in a network of sources,
authorities, and hubs. Journal of Communication, 61(6), 1062-1081.
White, A. (2012). The digital labour challenge: work in the age of new media. ILO. Retrieved
from https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_dialogue/---sector/
documents/publication/wcms_241457.pdf.